Do you remember how people called anyone who disagreed with Barack Obama a racist back in 2008 and 2012? Or when you dared oppose Obama for president, you were accused of not supporting him because you were scared to have a black president?

Yet you knew race had nothing to do with it. For most, it was an issue of severe disagreement on policy and past associations.

Now fast-forward to this election. We have some candidates saying all the right things, but some of their records scream opposition to their campaign rhetoric. Yet we continue to find ourselves in a political environment where if you oppose a candidate, you can easily find yourself being called a “loser” or “stupid.”

Many things go into the making of a quality president. A person’s net worth should not be used as an overriding qualification. Do we believe there is more to a person than money or is that something we just tell our kids? Is standing on conviction and principle merely a thing of the past or does that still hold value?

America is not great because of economic wealth. We have been blessed with wealth because we are great. We stand for what is right. We stand against giants even when it seems like a lost cause. We broke the sound barrier and went to the moon not because we were angry but because we had a yearning to achieve the unachievable.

I get the angst toward government and, in particular, the GOP establishment for its abandonment of voters who sent them to do a job. That does not mean I am going to throw the baby out with the bathwater just to “stick it to the establishment.” Voter resentment is over GOP candidates saying one thing on the trail, then doing another in office, coupled with the complete abandonment of conservative principles. I watched an interview on Fox News with Franklin Graham who said pretty much the same thing as his reason for leaving the GOP.

Many candidates on the primary stage may not have always made the best decisions but those decisions came from what they thought was best for the country. Each made votes I would disagree with, but that’s the nature of a Democratic republic. But it’s not about identifying a candidate who has voted 100 percent of the time how you would have. It is about identifying core principles most aligned with your own, whatever they may be. It is also about identifying those who are saying things that contradict what their life’s history has shown to be true.

Simply put, I would never hire a babysitter with a lifetime history of child molestation, even if they tell me how great they will treat my kids. It would defy common sense.

I would never hire an accountant who had a history of theft or embezzlement no matter how wealthy they were or how they claimed to be the greatest accountant in history. It would defy common sense.

We have an historic election coming up that just became infinitely more serious with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia. Principles matter.

Adam Reynolds
Gainesville

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